Leather-splitting machine.



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Patented Jan.18,1910.

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J. BUSPIELD. LEATHER SPLITTING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 29, 1908. 946,81 9, Patented Jan. 18, 1910.

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20%7cesses I m 760 0 5 3 e33 iinrrnn STATES PATENT OFFMJ. A

JAMES BUSFIELD, OF I-IAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS.

LEATHER-SPLITTING MACHINE.

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To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES BUSFIELD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Haverhill, county of Essex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Leather-Splitting Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like numerals on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention relates to a leather-splitting machine and has for its object to provide a machine of this character which is adapted to split a strip of leather into two parts each having a skived edge. The invention is especially adapted for splitting a strip of leather into two such parts, each of which is adapted to be used as a welt.

It is now the common practice in making welts to cut the leather into strips of the desired width and then subsequently to skive one edge of the strip, thus completing the welt. Where this procedure is carried out the material which is cut from the strip in skiving the latter is wasted.

My lnvention has for one of its objects to provide a novel form of leather-splitting machine which is adapted to out the welt with the skived edge directly from a piece of leather and to form the welt without any waste whatever. To do this, I propose to arrange the splitting knife with its blade at an angle to the plane in which the work is supported so that as the work is fed past the knife, said knife will split the leather at the proper angle to its surface to form the skived edge. The result is that when the welt strip is split from the piece or sheet it is formed at the same time with the skived ed e.

The machine I have herein illustrated as embodying my invention is of that type wherein the sheet or strip to be split passes between two feed rolls which are mounted to swing toward and from each other so that the knife will always be properly located midway between the two feed rolls regardless of the thickness of the leather or the variations in the thickness thereof.

In the drawings wherein I have shown a selected embodiment of my invention, Figure 1 is a side view thereof; Fig. 2 is a plan view; Fig. 3 is a section on the line 'y-y, Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a section on the line 'ww, Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is an end view of the splitting knife; Fig. 6 is a cross section of the Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 29, 1908.

Patented J an. 18, 1910.

Serial No. 440,789.

strip of material to be split showing the manner of splitting it.

The operative parts of the machine are supported upon a suitable frame 3. This frame supports the two feed rolls 4 and 5 between which the work or piece of leather 6 to be split-is fed. Said feed rolls are mounted to swing toward and from each other so that in any adjusted position thereof the center line of the strip 6 will always be at the same point. In the present embodiment of my invention this is accomplished by sustainlng each roll on the end of a shaft 7 and mounting the shafts in two swinging bearings 8 which are pivotally connected to the frame 3 by means of the two pivotal pins 9 so that the rolls 4 and 5 move toward and from each other about the pins 9 as axes.

The frame 3 is herein shown as provided with the two vertical side flanges 10 in which the pivotal pins 9 are supported, and each bearing 8 is provided with a hub 11 which fits between the flanges l0 and through which the corresponding pivotal pin 9 extends. Each bearing 8 is also provided with a lug or projection 12 to which is pivotally connected a link 18 by means of a pin 1 1 which extends through the lug and link. These two links 13 are pivotally connected to the head 15 of an adjusting screw 16, the shank of the screw passing through the web 17 of the frame and having thereon the adjusting nuts 18. A spring 19 surrounds the screw 16 and is confined between the nuts 18 and the web 17, said spring acting normally to force the adjusting screw backwardly and thus to draw the rolls a and 5 toward each other. The head 15 may conveniently be in the form of a yoke between which the ends of the links 13 are received, and said links are shown as pivotally connected to the yoke by means of the pin 20. The engagement of the head 15 with the web 17 serves to limit the backward movement of the adjusting screw and hence to limit the movement of the feed rolls 4E and 5 toward each other.

The feed rolls may be driven in any suitable way, and for this purpose I have shown the shafts 7 as having thereon intermeshing gears 21, and one of said shafts as having fast thereto a driving pulley 22. The teeth of the gears 21 are sufliciently long so that they will not be thrown out of mesh with each other by the movement of the shafts 7 toward and from each other. The feed rolls l and 5 are shown as mounted on the end of the shafts 7 and are situated outside of the side flange 10 of the frame, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 4:.

The work 6 to be split is supported on a shelf or table 23 which extends outwardly from the flange 10 and which is shown as being provided with the guiding wall 24 against which one edge of the strip 6 is guided. I have shown a yielding guide finger 2 5 pivotally connected to the table for engaging the opposite or outer edge of the strip 6, although this is not essential to the invention.

The splitting knife is shown at 30. It so arranged that its cutting edge will split the strip 6 in a plane at an angle to the surface of said strip, as shown clearly in Fig. 6 wherein the line 31 designates the line on which the strip 6 is split. here the strip is split in this way it is made into two parts. each of which has a skived edge, and each of which may be used as a welt, so that by splitting the strip in this way it can be split into two welts, each of which has the skived edge, without any waste of material. Moreover the two welts of full width can be secured from a strip of less width than is pos sible where the strip is first sub-divided into two strips of the right width and then said strips are afterward skived on their edges.

The knife which I preferably employ has substantially a V-shaped cutting edge, as shown clearly in the drawings. It is supported by a knife-holder 32 which in turn is sustained by a stand or support 33 that is mounted on the base 3% of the frame 3. The knife-holder is so supported that the tip 35 of the knife stands in a plane midway between the two rolls a and 5, and said knife is arranged with the tip end thereof situated close to the nip of the rolls, so that as soon as the strip emerges from between the rolls during its feeding operation, it engages the knife and is split as shown in Fig. (3.

By making the knife with the V-shaped cutting edges and employing the feeding mechanism shown, the point 35 of the knife will always engage the central portion of the piece of leather to be split regardless of the thickness thereof, and because of the shape of the knife, the strip will have no tendency to be crowded one way or the other during the splitting operation. The knife is reinovably sustained by the knife-holder so that said knife may be removed in order to be ground or sharpened.

It is sometimes desirable to change the angle of the skiving on the welt and to permit this to be done, I have mounted my knife-holder So that it may be adjusted about a horizontal axis which passes through the tip of the knife, this construction permitting the knife blade to be adjusted into different angular positions relative to the horizontal. For this purpose the knifeholder is shown as having a cylindrical shank 40 which is received in a hub or bearing 41 formed on the stand 33, the axis of the shank passing through the tip of the knife. The knife is held in its adjusted position by means of a binding screw 52 which engages in a groove 4 formed in the shank 40. The knife-holder is also provided with a shoulder 45 which backs up against the hub 41 whereby the knife is firmly held against backward movement.

The stand 33 is preferably made adjustable laterally on the base 34. so that the knife may be adjusted horizontally into position to properly split strips 6 of different widths. For this purpose said stand is provided with a foot 46 having slots 47 therein through which pass the clamping bolts 18 that clamp the stand to the base 3st.

The pressure of the feed rolls against the work is controlled by the adjusting nuts 18 for by turning said nuts up thereby compressing the spring 19, the feed rolls will be forced against the work with greater pressure, while by backing said nuts off the pressure of the feed rolls on the work will be lightened.

In using the apparatus, the strip 6 to be split is placed on the table 23 against the flange 24: and is then moved toward the feed rolls into position to be gripped thereby. As soon as the feed rolls grip the strip, they feed it forward against the splitting knife which splits it longitudinally on an angle, as shown in Fig. 5, thus cutting it into two strips, each having a skived edge.

My machine is very simple in construction and is very effective in splitting the leather in the manne above described. The shape and position of the knife and its arrangement relative to the feeding mechanism results in producing a machine which will accurately split the strip longitudinally at an angle into two parts which are of exactly the same width and each a duplicate of the other.

My machine is adapted for splitting leather to form other articles than welts, although it has especial advantages when used formaking skived welts.

l have shown herein one embodiment only of my invention and do not wish to be limited to the precise construction herein shown.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent isr- 1. Inaleather-splitting machine, the combination with a pair of feed rolls, of a swinging bearing for each roll, a link connected to each bearing, and a spring-actuated .slidablymounted adjusting screw to which the links are attached.

2. Inaleather-splitting machine, the combination with a frame having a verticallyextending web, of a splitting knife sustained by said frame, two bearings pivoted to the frame, a feed roll journaled in each bearing, an adjusting screw slid-able through said web and connected to both bearings, and a spring acting on said screw.

3. In aleather-splitting machine, the combination with a splitting knife, of a pair of feed rolls, a pivoted bearing in which each roll is mounted, a yieldingly-sustaincd adjusting screw, and links connecting said screw to each bearing.

4. In a leather-splitting machine,the combination with a pair of feed rolls, of a swinging bearing for each roll, a link connected to each bearing, and a slidable, springactuated member to which the links are attached, said member being in the line midway between the pivotal points of the bearings.

5. In a leather-splitting machine, the combination with a frame having a yoke-shaped portion and a vertical side or cheek piece 24; from which extends a work-receiving platform, of two swinging bearings each having a lug or ear pivoted between the sides of the yoke-shaped portion, a feed roll carried by each bearing, a springactuated slidable member, and links connecting said member to each bearing.

6. Inaleather-splitting machine, the combination with a frame having a yoke-shaped portion and a vertical side or check piece 24: from which extends a work-receiving platform, of two swinging bearings each having a lug or ear pivoted between the sides of the yoke-shaped portion, a feed roll carried by each bearing, a spring-actuated, slidable member extending through the web of the yoke-shaped frame, and a link connecting each member to each bearing.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES BUSFIELD.

Witnesses H. E. PETTENGILL, D. J MURPHY. 

